Richard Calder (born 1956) is a British

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

writer who lives and works in the East End of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He previously spent over a decade in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

(1990–1997) and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

(1999–2002).

Writing career

Born in London, Calder began publishing stories in 1989, and first came to wider notice with the

postcyberpunk Cyberpunk derivatives, variously also called literary punk genres, punk fiction, science fiction punk (sci-fi-punk) or punk-punk, are a collection of genres and subgenres in speculative fiction, science fiction, retrofuturism, aesthetics, and ...

novel '' Dead Girls'' (1992). ''Dead Girls'' was expanded into a trilogy; the other volumes are ''

Dead Boys The Dead Boys are an American punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. The band was among the first wave of punk, and regarded by many as one of the rowdiest and most violent groups of the era. They were formed by vocalist Stiv Bators, rhythm gui ...

'' and ''Dead Things''. Since 1992, he has produced a further nine novels, and about twenty short stories. A theme running through his work (such as in the 'Dead' trilogy) is agalmatophiliac male lust for young female

gynoid A gynoid, or fembot, is a feminine humanoid robot. Gynoids appear widely in science fiction films and arts. As more realistic humanoid robot design becomes technologically possible, they are also emerging in real-life robot design. Just like an ...

s, as well as the darker undercurrents of British national culture. His novels and stories have links and plot overlaps between one another, and together form a mythos. He cites as inspirations

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

and

Georges Bataille Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 8 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels, ...

, among others. He was interviewed in the magazine '' Interzone'' in August 2001 about the theme of escape and his own attempts to break away from "the physical and psychological constraints of the cloying suburbia of his childhood." He said: In 2004 ''Dead Girls'' was under option to an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n film production company. Calder was commissioned to draft a screenplay. When the film did not materialise he got the idea to re-imagine the book as a graphic novel. This was published in 2014. It is illustrated by Filipino artist Leonardo M Giron who was introduced to Richard Calder by Terry Martin, the editor of the quarterly magazine '' Murky Depths''.SFX Interview http://www.sf2h.com/deadgirls/sfxinterview.php The graphic novel was originally serialised in ''Murky Depths''.

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * (A "time opera" consisting of novellas which originally appeared in ''Interzone'', based on the plots of operas, including ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...

'', ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...

'' and '' La Traviata'') * * *

Short stories

Calder's short stories have been published almost exclusively by ''Interzone''. They are: *"Toxine" in ''Interzone - The 4th Anthology''. Paperback edition 1990

New English Library The New English Library was a United Kingdom book publishing company, which became an imprint of Hodder Headline. History New English Library (NEL) was created in 1961 by the Times Mirror Company of Los Angeles, with the takeover of two small B ...

*"Mosquito" in ''Interzone'' #32, November/December 1989, reprinted in ''Omni'' July 1990 and ''Interzone - The 5th Anthology'', 1991 *"The Lilim" in ''Interzone'' #34, March/April 1990 *"The Allure" in ''Interzone'' #40, October 1990, reprinted in ''The Best of Interzone'', 1997 *"The Embarkation for Cythera" in ''Interzone'' #106, Apr 1996 *"Lost in Cathay" in ''Leviathan'' #2, The Ministry of Whimsy, 1998 *"Malignos" in ''Interzone'' #144, June 1999, nominated for BSFA Award *"Impakto" in ''Interzone'' #150, December 1999, nominated for International Horror Guild Award *"Lord Soho" in ''Interzone'' #154, April 2000 *"Incunabula" in ''Interzone'' #159, September 2000 *"The Lady of the Carnelias" in ''Interzone'' #161, November 2000 *"The Nephilim" in ''Interzone'' #164, February 2001 *"Roach Motel" in ''Interzone'' #166, April 2001 *"Espiritu Santo" in ''Interzone'' #170, August 2001 *"Zarzuela" in ''Interzone'' #178, April 2002 *"The Dark" in ''Interzone'' #181, August 2002 *"The Catgirl Manifesto: An Introduction" in ''Album Zutique'' #1, May 2003 (as 'Christina Flook'), 2003 James Tiptree, Jr. Award Short List, reprinted in ''The James Tiptree Award Anthology 1'', Tachyon Publications, 2005 Stabat Mater Lost Pages, 2003 *"Female Hyper-Orgasmic Epilepsy ('Black Orgasm')" and "The Ophidian Manifesto, or How I Met Dr Thackery" in '' The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases'', The Ministry of Whimsy, 2003 *"After the Party" in ''Interzone'' #201, December 2005, #202, February 2006, #203, April 2006

References

External links

*
Official Richard Calder website
(dead link; archived a

''Dead Girls, The Graphic Novel''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calder, Richard 1956 births Living people 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists English science fiction writers English male short story writers English short story writers English male novelists 20th-century British short story writers 21st-century British short story writers 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers Alumni of the University of Sussex